Neighbouring Countries

History

Once part of Spain's vast empire in the New World Honduras became an independent nation in 1821. After two and a half decades of mostly military rule a freely elected civilian government came to power in 1982. During the 1980s Honduras proved a haven for anti-Sandinista contras fighting the Marxist Nicaraguan Government and an ally to Salvadoran Government forces fighting leftist guerrillas. The country was devastated by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 which killed about 5 600 people and caused approximately $2 billion in damage.Read more on Wikipedia